Foreign Workers: Japan quietly prepares for more immigration

While some media have recently focused on the slight increase in Americans moving to Japan, seeking a country with cheap health care and free of active shooter drills in schools, the majority of the increase is attributable to Japan’s Asian neighbors — most prominently, Vietnam, whose nationals have surged 10-fold in the past decade to nearly half a million.

If you haven’t noticed this trend, don’t be surprised. The government, treading a thin line between businesses complaining of labor shortages and a public that is broadly cautious over large-scale immigration, isn’t exactly shouting about it from the rooftops. But with a post-COVID dearth of workers and retirees departing the labor force in droves, the crunch is growing tighter. Some 85 percent of eateries say they suffer from a lack of part-time employees, according to research firm Teikoku Databank; nearly an equal amount of hotels say the same about full-time workers.

That’s the main reason Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has expanded a visa that allows foreign laborers and their families to stay in Japan indefinitely from just two industries (construction and shipbuilding) to 11, including the extremely stretched service sector. “We have to consider a society where we coexist with foreigners,” Kishida said at a speech last month. A long-standing foreign trainee scheme that was criticised for enabling abuse will be scrapped and replaced. For white-collar professionals, initiatives include a fast track to permanent residency for high-earners. The government is also studying the introduction of a “digital nomad” visa to attract those who can live and work anywhere. Another goal is to attract 400,000 foreign students by 2033, from a little over 300,000 before the pandemic, with half staying on for employment; currently, only around 40 percent remain after their studies.

Large challenges are increasingly in the way. Many industries already say they can’t attract enough workers as it is, much less afford to bring in more. Wages, which have stagnated for decades, look particularly miserly these days when measured in dollars due to the weak yen, even as pay is growing in the home nations of potential migrants. Japan’s health care and public safety are compelling, but comparatively high tax rates remain a barrier for encouraging high earners.

Next to other Asian destinations where English is more widely spoken, Japan certainly has a steeper learning curve. Smaller communities in particular can struggle to accommodate people who can’t come to grips with the language, a problem that may only worsen amid growing concern over the level of spoken English. Potential residents need patience, as well as a willingness to learn Japanese, when the tourist honeymoon period ends if they’re to be accepted long-term.

There are broader issues of integration. Some quarters have a tendency to view foreign workers more as a disposable commodity rather than part of the community; infamously, Japan paid laid-off Brazilians, often employed in the auto industry, to go home after the Global Financial Crisis struck provided they agreed not to come back. Surveys show that most Japanese are broadly accepting of the need for more foreign workers, but many are given pause by footage of this year’s riots in France, or headlines on the failed integration of refugees in many parts of Europe. Japan must learn not just from its own failures, but also from countries that have avoided ghettoisation. And it must work harder to make Japan a home: Despite a famously strong passport, and acceptance rates of around 85 percent of applicants in 2021, the numbers of those seeking citizenship has declined from the 2000s. Some of that is due to the pandemic, but the trend predates it.

The change is most pronounced in cities, where residents are increasingly experienced in using the internet, smartphones and translation apps help bridge the communication gap. More than 10 percent of those in Tokyo’s bustling Shinjuku City are now born outside the country; locals flock to the ethnic cuisines in Shin-Okubo, traditionally a Koreatown but with an increasing presence of Southeast Asian and halal food. The weak yen is a worry, but the country has overcome previous concerns thought to put immigrants off, such as the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster or the tight border policies of the pandemic. Japan remains a desirable destination — one that’s more open than you might think.

Gearoid Reidy is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Japan and the Koreas. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.

Credit: Bloomberg